2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV

Here’s proof that the electric car isn’t going away: General Motors, that 108-year-old monolithic automaker, now sells a battery-electric hatchback that delivers more than 200 miles of driving range and can be had for less than the price of the average new car.

With the arrival of the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, the electric car reaches a major milestone, one that also secures its future: a move toward mass appeal. It no longer matters if your in-laws show up at the airport unannounced. The Bolt has enough range to cover a day’s tasks plus the unexpected. It no longer matters if venture capital never recognizes the potential of your Bluetooth-enabled toilet seat. Anyone with a typical new-car budget can afford a Bolt. And, in the bigger picture, it no longer matters if Tesla goes belly-up. Electric cars appear to have laid down permanent roots in the automotive landscape with the first long-range, affordable EV from an established, mainstream automaker.

The Bolt starts at $37,495 in LT trim, but a $7500 federal tax credit will pull the price under $30,000. Some states and municipalities offer incentives beyond that. The liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery pack stores 60.0 kilowatt-hours of energy (equivalent to about 1.8 gallons of gasoline), enough to earn a 238-mile range rating from the EPA. The range and the price by themselves make the Bolt a car worthy of celebration. Drive it, though, and you’ll discover the Bolt also is good enough to be worthy of all the breathless hype that’s been showered on the Tesla Model 3.

Range, Conquered. Next? Charging.

We’ve already verified that the Bolt will actually cover 238 miles during a leisurely jaunt up the California coast that left us with an indicated 34 miles of remaining range. However, the quadratic effects of aerodynamic drag mean that the faster you drive, the faster the battery drains. So in our most recent rendezvous with the Bolt, we performed a real-world range test that mimics a long highway road trip. With the cruise control set to 75 mph and the climate system set to 72 degrees, we drove the battery to exhaustion in 180 miles.

As far as we’re concerned, that’s still more than enough for daily-driving duties. The Bolt also puts its driver at ease by showing three range numbers in its digital instrument panel: a maximum, a minimum, and a more prominent best estimate based on your driving style and accessory usage (climate control, headlights, audio) as well as ambient conditions.

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Range anxiety isn’t the sharknado of underlying worry that it was in earlier EVs. The fear of running out of juice unexpectedly was a far more serious issue in electric cars of the recent past, which occasionally chewed through two miles on their predicted range readouts for every mile driven. Consumer focus on range could fade away entirely except for the last real hurdle to widespread EV adoption: the inconvenience of recharging during journeys that exceed the battery’s single-charge range. With the Bolt’s impressive reach, after a typical day, most owners will need only to plug in overnight. Those who venture farther afield will find that the charging network is the one arena where Chevrolet is still handily outscored by Tesla.

For $750, Bolt buyers can opt for direct-current fast-charging capability via a Combined Charging System (CCS) port. As of September 1, 2016, there were 1061 CCS fast-charging connectors in the United States, versus 2010 Tesla Supercharger hookups. Most CCS stations charge at 50 kilowatts, and Chevrolet claims they can be expected to add 90 miles of range in 30 minutes of charging. Not bad, but that’s roughly half the rate of Tesla’s 120-kW Superchargers, and access to CCS chargers definitely isn’t included in the price of the Bolt.

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A bigger concern is that CCS connectors are clustered around major population centers, leaving vast stretches of U.S. interstates completely uncovered. You won’t, for example, be making the 600-mile drive from Kansas City to Denver in a Chevrolet Bolt unless you don’t mind charging for upward of 30 hours on 110-volt outlets along the way. Even on a typical 240-volt, 32-amp Level 2 charger, the Bolt needs almost 10 hours to recharge from empty. If GM wants EVs to make it to the next milestone, the company needs to address the pitiful state of fast-charging infrastructure, either by organizing the industry or simply building the network itself.

Simple Decision

For the time being, we view the EV buyer’s decision as a relatively simple one. Those who have the funds will rightfully be lured by the cachet, the styling, and the charging network of a Tesla Model S or Model X. Anyone else would be foolish to buy anything other than the Bolt. There will come a day when the EV market is competitive enough that consumers will shop on more than just price and range, and when that day comes, the Bolt is well positioned to shine.

It delivers a comfortable ride over broken pavement, anchored by the low-mounted battery and cushioned by well-tuned damping. The Bolt evidences a similar level of chassis-tuning competence to what GM has achieved of late with vehicles as varied as the Cadillac CT6 and the Chevrolet Malibu. Without being punishing or overtly sporty, the Bolt steers tidily, turns readily, and rides amicably.

Immediate, off-the-line urgency is a universal trait of all EVs, but that doesn’t necessarily result in quick acceleration times. A Nissan Leaf surges from a stop and then moseys to 60 mph in 10.4 seconds. The Bolt, though, turns the low-end shove of an electric motor into real performance, completing the same task in 6.5 seconds. Just like a Tesla, the Chevy’s acceleration performance fades with its battery charge. When tested with a 60-percent battery charge, the zero-to-60-mph time stretched to 6.9 seconds.

The Bolt’s default drive mode is designed for drivers making the transition from gasoline-powered vehicles with minimal regenerative braking when the driver lifts off the accelerator pedal. Those who know and enjoy the novelty of one-pedal driving can shift the gear selector into its low mode for up to 0.3 g of regenerative braking when they aren’t touching either pedal. A small paddle behind the left steering-wheel spoke increases the amount of regenerative braking whenever it’s held, in either drive or low mode, and it can be used to bring the car to a complete stop.

We have one criticism of GM’s execution on regenerative braking. EVs often require a warm-up period before they can deliver maximum regen braking. This can be alarming to the driver who lifts off the right pedal expecting significant deceleration and gets virtually none. To prevent that heart-stopping surprise, Tesla gives the driver an obvious warning when full regenerative braking is unavailable. The Bolt’s telltale turns the green regen icon in the instrument cluster gray, a change so subtle that we became aware of it only after Chevrolet PR read this story and clued us in to it. That indicator needs to be more prominent.

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The Bolt’s handling exhibits exactly the kind of benign behavior you’d expect from a front-wheel-drive car with a focus on efficiency above all else. The Michelin Energy Saver A/S tires deliver a modest 0.78 g of grip around the skidpad while the low-mounted battery pack helps keep handling relatively flat. At 3569 pounds, the Bolt is heavy for a vehicle its size but light for a car with such a large battery pack. A Tesla Model S (which is admittedly a much larger car) weighs about 750 pounds more with a 60-kWh pack.

You Call That a Crossover?

Chevrolet calls the Bolt a crossover, a claim that we dismissed as marketing bluster at first. Clearly, the Bolt looks like any other shoebox compact. But there’s actually some credence to Chevy’s claim. From a functional perspective, a crossover is defined in part by a tall seating position, which is quantified by the distance from the ground to the driver’s hip, a measure known as the H-point. While the Bolt doesn’t appear to have the ground clearance of most crossovers, the underfloor battery pack elevates the seating position. At 25.5 inches, the Bolt’s H-point is closer to a Toyota Highlander’s 28.6 inches than a Volkswagen Golf’s 20.8 inches.

From that perch, the Bolt feels much narrower than its 69.5-inch width suggests. You’re always aware that you’re sitting close to the person in the passenger seat, even if the cabin never feels cramped or claustrophobic. Chevy did a nice job organizing the interior with a center console that accommodates drinks and phones and still leaves room for elbows on the armrest. There’s also a large bin on the floor between the driver and front passenger for a purse or other large items. Exceptionally slender front seats—made by suspending plastic sheets from metal frames and covering them with a fraction of the usual padding—leave ample room in the rear seats for adults. Although not at a compact-crossover level of spaciousness, that back seat is more generous than those of compact hatchbacks. However, the cargo area, at 17 cubic feet, would be on the small side for a hatchback and is less than half that of the typical crossover.

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Our test car was a Bolt Premier, the only step up from the base trim with a starting price of $41,780. It adds leather, heated front and rear seats, roof rails, a 360-degree-view camera system, a rearview camera mirror, rear parking sensors, and blind-spot monitoring. Options included an upgraded Bose stereo, wireless phone charging, and two USB ports in the rear for $485, plus a Driver Assistance package with forward-collision alert with pedestrian detection, lane-keeping assist, and automatic high-beams for $495. Along with the aforementioned quick-charging connector and $395 for the Orange Burst Metallic paint, the final price reached $43,905.

The cabin neither looks nor feels like that of a $40,000 car. It’s clear in the Bolt that most of your money is paying for that big brick of battery cells developed to live up to an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty rather than luxury trappings. The seats are wrapped in economy-car-grade leather, and the door armrests are formed from an unpleasant hard plastic. A 10.2-inch touchscreen is standard equipment, but a navigation system isn’t offered. Instead, you’ll have to rely on a connected phone to pull up Android Auto or Apple CarPlay.

And then there’s the exterior design. The Bolt is a forward-thinking, game-changing vision of the future as only General Motors could dream it—shaped and styled like today’s basic transportation with a few extra strands of tinsel to dress it up.

These are minor criticisms at this early stage for affordable EVs, when the battery technology remains so expensive. The Bolt team focused its priorities where they matter—on the substance—and built the most important vehicle for battery-electric technology to date. The Chevrolet Bolt delivers big range, a reasonable price, and impressive driving manners, paving the way for the rest of the industry to follow.